Here’s a thought.  What if we refused to settle? What if we held out for the best Abba has?

Refusing to settle has been on my mind a lot as of late.  For the first time in a long time I am faced with the decision of finding a new place to worship.  That is proving to be a daunting task.  Churches everywhere but few offering a renewing and refreshing drink from Holy Spirit.

I’m not looking for programs.  And while I desire fellowship, it must be the right kind of fellowship.  I don’t want to sit on a pew and talk about what is to come.  I want to run with people who are running after Jesus!

And everywhere I look….. People are talking about problems.  People are disgruntled.  People are bickering.  People are posting on Facebook about a wave to come as an excuse for the mess presently.  It’s almost as if when they say, “Abba is about to move” that it permits them to ignore the mess around them.  Here is a truth.  Abba has already moved.  His name was Jesus.  Now, He is waiting for me to get with the program.

I just refuse to settle for a religious experience.  I refuse to settle for an excuse.  I refuse to sit on a pew hoping it will get better.  But I am looking and I am running after Jesus!

He can be found on the street every Sunday where a friend of mine has been feeding the homeless for 40 years.   I find some runners every month in a recovery center for addicts.  Soon, I will find some runners in the prison system.

So….I may be done with institutionalized church for a while; maybe even the rest of my life.  But that does not mean my faith has wavered.  it may just mean that I have found a true expression of being a disciple of Jesus.

And if you think a prison, a recovery center, a ministry feeding the homeless, a sidewalk Sunday School or any gathering outside of the four walls of the church is not a church, then you my friend do not understand the preaching of the Gospel.

Pastor Shane Creech